When Ella tentatively poses the question to hold a Halloween party at their house this year, her mom is icing pumpkin-shaped cookies to cart into work, the ghoul-shaped dog treats cooling beside them. Her mother blinks at her for a few moments, before she says, “Sure, sounds fun. How many people should I be expecting?”
Her mom’s always had this super weird sense of chill, or zen, or whatever, which definitely serves them well whenever Ella’s sister comes back into their life. Like, Ella had been a second away from starting to scream when Max had unearthed her wings for the first time, but Mom had just casually continued narrating her level of injury. Ella thinks that the Martinez sense of chill skips a generation. Or maybe it combats with the sense of Batchelder fight me right now asshole-ness in her sister’s genes, because Max was weirdly okay with a lot of things and weirdly tense about others, and Ella’s just the odd duck.
“Um,” Ella says, because she hadn’t really expected to get that far. “I’ll get back to you?”
Her mom nods, and asks her to pass the chocolate chips, and that seems to be that.
Now, she knows that most of her grade is coming, and she’d sneakily posed a phone call to someone else. It’s the day of and she and her mom are setting up the blacklights in their basement, the streamers arching above their heads, when the doorbell rings.
Ella hides a grin as her mom looks up and frowns and says, “It’s too early for trick-or-treaters and the party doesn’t start for hours, who could—?”
Then her mom’s eyes widen, and she starts heading up the stairs, grabbing the ever-present plate of chocolate chip cookies, Ella right on her heels.
Mom opens the door to a group of disheveled, homeless-looking kids in a V formation, each holding a bag from some Halloween store, and her sister is at the forefront, grinning.
“Hey, Mom,” she says, and barely even fidgets when Mom pulls her in for a hug, and her cheeks are only a little pink afterwards. Mom’s talked to Ella before, after a couple glasses of wine, about what she’d been able to gather about the way Max was raised, and it had answered a lot of questions, and it also made her want to hug her sister way more. So she stepped forwards and hugged her, a shorter hug than Mom’s, and Max ruffles her hair a bit.
“How’s my favorite little sister?” She croons, and Ella smiles a little despite herself.
“I’m your only little sister.”
“Yeah, yeah, short stack—ooh, cookies!” She declares, and the rest of the Flock shuffles in behind her. Max grabs approximately ten cookies.
“I didn’t know you were coming,” Mom says, a bit flustered, then swivels to beam and pull Ella in for a hug.
Yeah, okay, it’s great to see her sister and everything, but Ella’s kind of got a master plan going. She’ll accept the credit, though. Mom’s hugs are awesome.
“We heard there was a party,” Nudge bubbles happily. Ella really, really likes Nudge; she’s the only member of the Flock who actually and genuinely enjoys going to Starbucks and shopping, and other girly stuff like that. Iggy tags along, a lot, but he mostly makes pithy commentary and steals their drinks.
He’s also a pretty good model.
She and Nudge tend to heckle and holler at him a bit when he pretends to strut down the length of the dressing rooms.
“Well,” her mom says, “the party starts in a couple hours, we were just setting up—“
“Say no more,” Max says, and proceeds to direct the Flock with barking commands that are more fit for a war-weary commander, rather than a fifteen-year-old girl. Then again, Max is kind of both.
The Flock snaps to attention in a weirdly casual way, and Ella ends up just watching how they interact with each other. It’s really, actually, very interesting, once you knew what to look for and didn’t have to be terrified of them ripping off someone’s limbs.
Fang and Gazzy descend the stairs to help with the blacklights, Fang flicking lightly at Gazzy’s ear and Gazzy barely even flinching. Nudge is paired up with Angel to help finish off decorations around the house, and they float off with giggles, already discussing which of the little sticky-jelly-things to stick in which window and why. Iggy slouches into the kitchen with her mom to finish up the snack bowls. Max grins at Ella sheepishly, once they’re alone.
“So,” she says, “what do you want to do?”
“I mean,” Ella says, “you could probably help with the lights outside?”
Max nods, once, crisply, and Ella grabs the bin and hauls it out into the backyard, shoving off Magnolia, and Total trots up next to Magnolia as they go out to the yard. The dogs stay inside, because, well.
Ella’s never, ever going to get used to the talking dog.
“So,” Ella says, propping her chin on her hand as she watches Max wrestle with all the cords, “what’s new?”
Max grunts around a mouthful of lights, which probably isn’t safe, but this is the girl that Ella has seen throw knives instead of darts, blindfolded, against a blind guy, like they were trying for some sort of circus routine. She’s probably fine.
“The usual,” she says, spitting it out. “Assholes wanna try world domination. We’re bigger assholes back. Running, flying, weird Voice, wolf men. Ya know.”
Max’s tone is bored, like she’s describing a Monday math class.
“You stopped them, right?” Ella checks, and Max snorts.
“Who do you think I am? I decimated them. Obviously.”
Ella grins, and Max says, in a tone that’s really trying for casual, “So, uh, what’s new here? Mesa. School. Um, that dance, or the soccer team?”
Ella smiles and has to take pity on her. She knows that suburbia bores Max to tears. She once attempted to imagine what Max would be like if she’d been raised here and was surprised when her head didn’t spontaneously combust with the image.
“Dance was good, dumped the guy. We got second in districts for soccer, which I’m bitter about—“
“I’ll kick their ass,” Max says immediately.
Ella grins. “Thanks, but I already stepped on someone’s face with my cleats, so.”
Max throws her head back as she laughs, her hair falling back, exposing the long line of her throat. “Was it awesome? Did they bleed?” She asks immediately.
“Yeah, bloody nose. Mom thought it was funny, I could tell.”
“Yeah, I bet,” Max says, grinning a little, ducking her head.
“Um,” Ella says, wracking her brain for more tidbits, “school’s boring, like always. You’ll get to meet most of the people in my grade, though, so—“
Max’s spine only tenses a little. Ella knows she doesn’t like crowds, but—
“Okay, yeah,” she says, and breathes in and out.
She’s trying, Ella reminds herself. She’s really trying.
“Party’s in the basement, right?”
“Right,” Ella agrees. Battle plans, she knows, after an unfortunate incident where she asked why Max was staring at a pen so much and Max started listing off ways to kill someone with it.
“Food down there, too?”
“Everyone should stay in the basement.”
Max nods, visibly filing away the information for later, and scowls at the lights, before noticing Ella isn’t doing anything.
“Hey, fair share,” she protests, and dumps what seems to be more knots than lights into her lap.
Ella grins a little bit and gets to work.
Eventually, when Max jumps (literally, she just jumps, she doesn’t use her wings at all) onto the roof and lines up all the lights, they pronounce it good, and head inside to get into costume.
Nudge is standing in the front hall, wearing a familiar t-shirt and pair of sinfully short shorts, carefully daubing on eye paint. She grins at them, and simpers, “Whatcha doin’, puddin'?” at Ella, and Ella kind of has to take a second to stare at her in complete and utter awe.
“Whoa,” she says, at last, and Nudge grins at her, twisting a little to admire the effect.
“D’you think?”
Ella nods vociferously, and Nudge beams at her.
“Everyone else is getting ready,” she says, waving a hand. “I mean, I think Iggy’s ready—“
“Yeah,” Iggy says, loping into the room, and it takes Ella a second to place it before she grins.
“Daredevil?”
Iggy shrugs, his blue eyes covered by the scrap of material. “Blind guy.”
Ella nods, and Max squeezes her shoulder.
“I’m gonna go get changed, okay?”
“Mkay,” Ella agrees, then turns to Nudge and Iggy.
“Wanna curl my hair a bit?” She asks Nudge, who beams, and Iggy just kind of goes off with them too, but mostly because Ella had grabbed his hand and pulled him along.
When they’re all ready, they all descend the stairs, and Nudge immediately goes over to Fang, who’s decked out in an all-black Batman costume. Gazzy's adjusting his replica ghostbuster outfit.
Angel’s next, looking adorable in blue gingham, and intones to Total, “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.”
Total wriggles happily in her arms, and Max is next down the stairs.
Fang starts choking on air.
Max is dressed in a Captain America costume, shield and all. She grins a bit, and Ella grins back, adjusting her leather vest-thing, going to join her as the Scarlet Witch to her sister’s Captain America.
Oh, yeah. Max’s costume is spandex, so that kind of explains Fang’s choking. They’re really mostly ridiculous, Ella thinks fondly, and she’s sure that their mutual cluelessness will drive her crazy the longer they stay, but for now, it’s endearing.
Her Mom walks in, and grins as she adjusts the bowtie around her neck, straightening the tweed. Max, and the rest of the Flock, blinks at her cluelessly, while Ella tries not to groan.
"Um," Max says, "Who're you?"
"I'm the Doctor," her mom says, and laughs at her own joke, before ushering them down the stairs.
Max turns to Ella, and Ella cuts in, "British sci-fi show, you wouldn't know it."
Max nods, looking a bit relieved, and walks over to the snack bowls. Ella glances over to find Fang staring at her walking away. Ella nearly smacks her forehead, but she finds herself staring at Nudge when she goes to join Max, so maybe she's being a little hypocritical.
(Ella had blurted it all out to Mom one morning, and the Martinez sense of chill had made her Mom nod, top up her coffee, and ask her if she wanted a cinnamon roll that morning, they could go by the bakery. When they were going out the door, her mother had kissed her head, said she loved Ella no matter who Ella loved, and that had been that. Mom had been really supportive and gone to a Pride Parade with Ella with a sign that said I'M PROUD OF MY BISEXUAL DAUGHTER. She's been trying to think of a way to casually drop it in conversation with the Flock, but. She isn't even entirely sure if the Flock knows anything about sexual orientation, much less her own, but that's a whole other situation.)
Iggy saunters over next to her, leaning down a little so he can talk in her ear over the music that's started playing. "How soon are people gonna be showing up?"
Ella squints over at the clock in the corner of the room. "Ten minutes, maybe?"
Iggy nods, and says, "Tell me what's going on?"
Ella smiles a little bit, casting her eyes over the room. "Nudge's dancing with Fang—or, well, trying, Fang's mostly just standing there, staring at Max. That costume's all spandex, by the way, so I'm probably gonna get grossed out by the time the party's over. Um—I think Gazzy and Angel are getting sodas, or something, and Max is just kind of hoarding a snack bowl."
Iggy snorts. "Can't say I expected anything less. You think it's bad when they're just here, whenever they fight about anything I feel like I need to leave the room, which is difficult when you're in the middle of a forest, or a science lab, or in an air vent."
Ella giggles, lacing her hands around his arm, and Iggy turns his face towards her, looking surprised.
"Does that happen often?" Ella asks.
"Did the various locations make that unclear?" He says, with a laugh, and Ella distantly hears the doorbell.
"Oh, people're coming," Ella says, blinking up at the ceiling, and then Nudge drifts over, grabbing Ella's arm.
"Let's dance," she beams. "Fang's ridiculous and pining."
Ella laughs, squeezes Iggy's arm one last time, and lets Nudge drag her out to the dance floor.
The floor begins to fill with her classmates, but Nudge doesn't quite let her go; she clings to Ella's arm and eagerly introduces herself to everyone, and dances with Ella, and the party seems to be going pretty well. Gazzy, Angel, and Iggy huddle together, and Max and Fang swap longing looks when the other isn't looking.
Once she and Nudge have made their rounds, Nudge spins her and drags her out into the dance floor, singing along to the pop-ish song that's blaring over the speakers. Nudge happily strings her arms around Ella's neck, and Ella hesitantly places her hands somewhere above Nudge's hips region, and they dance together, beaming and giggling together.
She and Nudge dance their way over to the rest of the Flock, and Ella sneaks a look at Nudge, happy and sweaty, and she places a hand on Ella's back. "Want anything?"
"Water'd be great, thanks," she says, and Nudge nods, flitting off.
"This is... fun," Max says cautiously.
"She beat everyone in a game of darts, blindfolded," Iggy provides. "And then I beat everyone, blind."
"Nice," Ella says, lifting her curled hair off her neck, fanning at herself. "Were they all dressed as zombies wearing football jerseys?"
"Yeah, was that the football team?" Max asks, looking excited. "Did I beat a ton of jocks?"
"That was actually the mathletes team, I think," Ella says, and Max looks disappointed. "So you beat a ton of nerds, really."
"That works too," Max says with a shrug.
"You'd be the biggest bully," Fang says, with a roll of his eyes.
Max preens. "I would win every fight," she declares.
Fang looks at her, and then grimaces. "It's weird, to think about us in school."
"I was just thinking about that," Ella adds. "I mean, I can imagine Nudge the easiest—"
The Flock nods with her, and Nudge chooses that moment to float back into the conversation, pressing a water bottle into Ella's hands.
"Can imagine me the easiest what?" She asks, flopping herself on the couch next to Iggy.
"You, going to school," Ella says, and Nudge nods back.
"I did fit in easiest, at Anne's," Nudge says. "The rest of you were just awful—well, maybe not Angel—"
"Are you kidding?" Max snorts. "I looked outside once to see Angel jumping 10 feet into the air."
"What happened at Anne's?" Ella asks, because she hasn't really heard the whole story.
They regale her with it, and then Nudge drags all of the Flock out to the dance floor.
It's actually.... really fun. They all dance, or attempt to dance, including Fang dancing with Max, which is an interesting new development. Gazzy spins around Angel, and Nudge and Iggy switch off with dancing with Ella, until Iggy's whisked away by Angel, and it leaves Nudge and Ella again.
Ella clears her throat, suddenly feeling very nervous, fumbling with her hands. "Um, Nudge?"
"Yeah?" Nudge shouts over the music.
"I have to tell you something—"
"WHAT?"
"I SAID I HAVE TO TELL YOU SOMETHING," Ella calls back, trying to pitch her voice so that Nudge can hear it, and not blurting it out to her whole entire grade. It wasn't a secret that she was bi, per say, but she can see the two girls who were talking about how bisexuality wasn't real in her study hall the other day and Ella had taken in deep, even breaths and clenched her fists and sort of wished that she had Max's style, so she could immediately declare that yes, it was a real thing, she was bi and proud, but the teacher had walked in and, well—she's getting off track.
"WHAT IS IT?" Nudge shouts back, looking a little concerned, but mostly swept up in the music.
It's at that precise moment that the sliding glass door shatters in, and what Ella, at first, thinks are latecomers in werewolf costumes bust in.
But no. Since this is Ella's life, of course, they are Erasers.
Nudge immediately stands in front of Ella, and Max looks down at her shield, and Gazzy shuts off the music in time for Ella to hear Max say, resignedly, "I can't believe I have to actually fight crime, dressed up as Captain America."
Then she slams her shield into an Eraser's face, and the fight is on, and Ella is urging all her classmates upstairs, out of the way, when she hears a yelp close to her ear.
She turns back to see Nudge, holding her Harley Quinn mallet, glowering at the Eraser that's been knocked out behind her.
Ella clears her throat. "Um. Thanks."
Nudge glances up at her, and gives her a quick, disarming grin, before whirling back into the fight.
Ella peeks through the door to watch the tiny slices of action when she sees them; it seems like each of their costumes have been fashioned to help in a fight. Max, for example, seems to be doing some copycat moves from the Captain America movies, and also seems to be really enjoying bashing things with her shield. Fang actually seems to have all the corny Batman weapons, with the bat-shaped boomerangs. Nudge's mallet, of course, does a lot of damage. Iggy's using his... nunchucks? Maybe? to great success. Gazzy's proton pack actually seems to be some sort of incendiary weapon, and Angel's just being her usual telepathic self.
When Max calls up the all clear, the classmates who have remained and not run away all come back downstairs, and tentatively start dancing again.
The Flock and Ella all come upstairs to tell her Mom everything that happened, and her Mom sets out homemade pumpkin hot chocolate things and chocolate chip cookies.
"Wait," Nudge blurts out, and the Flock looks towards them, unsubtly. "What were you about to say?"
"Oh," Ella says, throat dry. Now or never. "Um, I'm bi. Sexual."
Max blinks at her, a little, and the Flock all look between themselves.
"I like boys and girls," Ella tacks on helpfully.
"Oh," Max says. "Okay. Sure. That's a thing?"
"We need to enroll you into a women and gender studies class," Ella says. "Like. All of you."
"I'd be down," Iggy says, with a shrug.
"We'll wait until the world's saved, for that one," Max says. "But, uh. Good?"
"Wanna go back to the party?" Her mother says, and they all nod and go, but Max hangs behind.
They dance, and they eat a ton of snacks, and they drink ridiculous amounts of soda. The party winds down so people are sitting in groups, rather than dancing, voices quiet under the thrum of the music. People, eventually, slouch out, looking exhausted, quietly thanking Ella and her mom, carpooling home.
The Flock changes, and so does Ella, and they fall asleep in the basement like a pile of puppies.
In the morning, the costumes are off, the evening resting soundly in memory, and her mom takes them all to I-Hop. The Flock orders frankly monstrous amounts of food, and Ella sips lightly at her coffee, trying to count the amount of each food they eat, but fails miserably.
Watching the Flock, as usual, intrigues her. They stab at each other's food, and drink out of each other's mugs and glasses, and jostle each other to get to the syrup. They're a family, really, they are; it's what Ella imagined having a ton of siblings was like. Teasing, and frustrating sometimes, but loving and they had your back, all the same.
All too soon, Ella can tell that they have to leave, and she lingers around them. When all the Flock walks outside, Nudge hesitates, before turning to her.
"What'd you call it?"
"Huh?" Ella asks, looking at her too.
"The—liking boys and girls," Nudge says. She's looking at her directly, head-on, and that's what Ella thinks she likes about Nudge. She gives people her full attention, which is a bit overwhelming, sometimes, but it's nice to know that her focus is on you, always on you.
"Oh," Ella says. "Bisexuality."
"Huh," Nudge says, thoughtfully, and then, "Cool. Me too."
Ella blinks at her, and Nudge stares right back, eyebrows lifting a little.
"Oh," Ella says, at last. "Cool."
"Yeah."
At last, they grin at each other, and Ella pulls Nudge in for a hug.
When Nudge pulls away, she kisses Ella on the cheek, and Ella feels her face burn with it as she winks and skips off to join the rest of the Flock on the lawn, where Max is staring at the pair of them with a confused look on her face, like she was happy but protective but didn't quite know what to think.
She lifts her hand in a wave, and watches them take off for the sky.
"Oh, damn," her mom says, sounding disappointed, and Ella nearly thinks it's because Nudge kissed her, but then—
"Should I have given the Nudge the what are your intentions speech?"